In Houston, as in other cities, regulations dictate how many parking spaces a development must have. The number required depends on type and size of the development. For example, Houston requires 1.333 parking spaces for each 1 bedroom unit in an apartment complex and 4 spaces for every 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area in a retail store. These requirements are burdensome in densely populated area.
The Houston City Council voted recently to exempt parts of Midtown and East Downtown from the city’s parking requirements. These areas are added to sevearl other sections of the city which were already exempt.
This reform, known as market-based parking, allows owners to decide how many parking spaces their development should have. It eases the burden on developers to build costly parking areas into their plans in these sections of the city that have become accessible by pedestrian and public transit traffic.
The attorneys at Stephenson Fournier have experience counseling clients on local parking ordinances and other land use regulations in Houston and beyond
[1] , Houston Lifts Parking Requirements in EaDo, Midtown, Houston Chronicle, https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-lifts-minimum-parking-requirements-in-14103862.php.